My dad is now on Facebook.
The reason Facebook has the option of putting people in separate groups and circles. So you can post to "everyone but X" or to "only X". Colleagues in one group, family in another, friends in a third, idiots you're sadly forced to have as friends in....No, that's just the first two together.
I'm so sorry.
I have a group set up for people I either don't hear from often or that fill my feed with crap (like my best friend who posts 50 quotes/memes a day). Family is included in that group. I got tired of my mother calling me in a panic because I posted something about one of the kids having a cold.The reason Facebook has the option of putting people in separate groups and circles. So you can post to "everyone but X" or to "only X". Colleagues in one group, family in another, friends in a third, idiots you're sadly forced to have as friends in....No, that's just the first two together.
My dad is on Facebook as well but he's pretty cool there.
What drives me bananas? People posting stuff then hassling me for not immediately responding. Omg.[DOUBLEPOST=1451700538,1451700169][/DOUBLEPOST]Oh and game invites on Facebook.
What drives me bananas? People posting stuff then hassling me for not immediately responding. Omg.[DOUBLEPOST=1451700538,1451700169][/DOUBLEPOST]Oh and game invites on Facebook.
And so it begins. One of my aunts sent me a friend request because she found me on my dad's friend list. I'm not accepting. Then I'll get to hear how I shouldn't treat family this way. It's fucking Facebook, not a family reunion! Plus I barely know her except for vague memories from when I was about the same age as my own children. Why didn't I just delete my account like I had planned to?!
Fuck and it also means they'll all know my married name and where I live now. I have to make sure my phone number is unpublished or else I'll be getting calls next. Shit. Why don't these people have boundaries?
Fuck and it also means they'll all know my married name and where I live now. I have to make sure my phone number is unpublished or else I'll be getting calls next. Shit. Why don't these people have boundaries?
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I have actually told my extended family, in no simply terms, that if I add them then I'm blocking everything they post on the basis that 99% of it is offense religious shit (they were aghast that I found their bible thumping distasteful) or offensive ultra conservative shit (they were aghast that I thought they were racists)... but that I still love them and want to see them, even though they bring this shit with them to family gatherings. These were the people laughing about the Trayvon Martin shooting and the protesting in Missouri, but when I call them on it, suddenly -I- am the problem. For god's sake, one of them ran for office at a Tea Partier and it was the one who once payed my brother and I to fight each other for his amusement.
There are like 5-6 people in my family I actually care about seeing/talking too. They know who they are and are similarly embarrassed.
The point is, I had that discussion and survived. Maybe you won't, I dunno. But all I know is that I don't need to scroll through a mountain of bullshit to hear about things I actually care about anymore.
It's not about what they post. I can hide my dad's racist, ultra-conservative, meme-based logic, bullshit in a list as was mentioned previously. That's annoying, but taken care of. However, his family has more issues than National Geographic. I don't feel like dealing with them or leaving myself open to their narcissistic needy crap or their fucked up idea of family. I haven't seen or heard from the majority of my dad's siblings in 30+ years. I have no inclination to strike up a relationship with them.
My dad invited other relatives to my wedding despite knowing our budget was tight (Aussie and I paid for it ourselves) and that we had told Aussie's family it was going to be only parents and siblings. "But they're family!" In the last 11 years I've come to realize it was actually more about trying to be better than Aussie's family in some way.
The last time my parents visited us my dad invited a cousin, who was vacationing on Maui, to my house without asking if it was ok with me or Aussie. I haven't seen this guy since I was 4-5 years old. I don't know him. Not to mention it being totally disrespectful of us and something I would never have done to my parents at their home. "But he's family!" And family can still be assholes I don't want around my kids or in my house.
His sisters would call our house when I was a kid to ask for money and when they realized my parents weren't handing it out any more, they started manipulating my dad under the guise of wanting to have a better relationship with him. Now they come visit, from across several states, and ask for money in person. One time they didn't have gas money to get home or for a hotel. In October, a group of them flew out to see my eldest uncle in Idaho then sprung the "oh we don't have money for a hotel" on my uncle and dad (who visits my uncle annually) once they got there. "But they're family..." and of course, my dad gave them money.
None of them understand boundaries, in either the sense of having their own or respecting other people's. If I give a crumb to one then suddenly the whole flock will be around pecking me to death. No thanks.
This sounds like my extended family, but luckily my family are the black sheep. Because if someone showed up out of the blue saying they didn't have gas money, they'd get a "that sucks" before the door closed on them.
fade
Staff member
Sounds like my siblings, too. Especially the money begging.
And woe be unto you if you mention it to them. Then you get an earful about how lucky you were and how they could've done it, too. Which is funny, because my younger siblings got a lot more as kids than I did, because the older lot had already moved out.
And woe be unto you if you mention it to them. Then you get an earful about how lucky you were and how they could've done it, too. Which is funny, because my younger siblings got a lot more as kids than I did, because the older lot had already moved out.
Pretty much. There's a reason most Boy Scout troops do things like sell Christmas Trees/Wreaths and its because the margins are better. The Girl Scout cookie program used to be a better fundraiser back when it was the girls themselves making the cookies. I don't even think they are allowed to now.
The Scouts are one of the most deliberate and clear and visible Catholic institutions remaining around here, starting and ending every meeting with a prayer. Wut?
GasBandit
Staff member
Oh gawd, flashbacks... "I, Gas Bandit, promise to do my best to do my duty to God and my country, to help other people, and obey the law of the pack!"Seriously, one of the Girl Scout laws here is to serve God and country. Which makes me shuffle my feet every time.
What good stormtroopers in training we were.
Cajungal
Staff member
*eyes glaze over*
"On my honor I will try to serve God and my country, to help people at all times, and to live by the girl scout law."
GasBandit
Staff member
Hah, those were the days. Reminds me of how when I explained the Pledge of Allegiance to Pauline, she said it sounded cultish, or something the bad guys in a movie would chant. I had to say, speaking objectively, she had a point.
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands - one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all!"
Said with the proper emphasis and tone, it starts to sound a little like "Arbeit Macht Frei!"
Hey @Terrik, have you had to explain the Pledge of Allegiance to Jun yet?